Ripples
by robspace54
Summary: After the Peacekeeper Wars, how did John, Aeryn, and Little D'Argo live their lives? After so much turmoil, could they settle down?
1. Chapter 1

**Ripples**

by Robspace54

 _FARSCAPE is a production of the Jim Henson Company, Hallmark Entertainment, Nine Films and Television, and A &E. The following is a work of fanfiction, and in no way is an attempt whatsoever to interfere with the rights of the copyright holders._

 _Several cycles after the Peacekeeper Wars...  
_  
The fishing lines went off their dock, out a few yards over the dark water, then down into the smooth liquid surface. A small breeze twitched the lines and ripples propagated away from them in ever increasing circles until they met and starting looking all crazy.

"Daddy? Why does that happen?" I asked, pointing to the watery circles.

Daddy tousled my hair and chuckled. "Wave theory, Little D."

I was named for daddy and mommy's best friend, General Ka D'argo. I smiled at daddy. "Is this gonna be another lecture on wave mechanics? You said we'd just go fishing." Not another lesson, daddy, I thought. Not today of all days.

"Sorry. I guess I lecture too much."

Daddy taught engineering courses on-line at the planetary uni. "Sometimes you do." I nodded. "But… uhm, it's just…you are a teacher."

Daddy sighed. "I apologize."

"It's okay. But lately…," this was embarrassing. "Only…"

"Only?"

"You and mom." I fidgeted. "Well… you been acting fahrbot."

"Hm. Me and your mom, we're grownups and grownups have, uhm, things – things that concern grownups. Nothing to worry about. Are you worried about me and your mom?"

I shrugged then dipped my fishing pole up and down. "No," I answered. But I was worried about stuff. Mommy and daddy had another big fight today and they used the f-blank-blank-double-l word to each other this morning. It was right after first meal. I'd just finished eating and drinking when they started yelling again.

"Little D? Do you think mom and me are," daddy coughed, "having trouble?"

I counted in my head. It musta been, what? Four times? No five times, in the last ten-day they got really mad at one another. And every time they yelled and then the house got really quiet. When that happened daddy or mommy would make some excuse and go out for a walk, or go out to the shed to work on one of our spacecraft, or go sit on the dock and stare at the river.

During this morning's fight, daddy tried to quiet mommy down, saying nice things in a calm low voice, but that only had made her madder, so she pulled dad into their quarters, slamming the door behind them. A lot of loud words filtered through the wall, but even by putting my ear to the door, I could hear only heard a lot of loud blah-blahs. Then it got really quiet, so I high-tailed it back to the dining table, just in time to act like I hadn't been listening.

Mommy came out of their quarters, with daddy hot her heels. Neither of them looked happy. She scooped up her pistol, checked the charge, holstered it, and then she picked up her black coat; the long one she wore when she went out.  
"I'm going John," she said.

"Goodbye mommy," I called out to her. I didn't want her to go, not today, and not like this - not with her and daddy all mad and everything.

She stopped at the front portal and came back. I saw how her face was pink; flushed daddy called it, and her movements were quick and jerky.

"D'argo, I'm going into town. Something I need to do. Obey your father."

I stretched my arms up to her. "Sure. Hug?"

She smiled and put her arms around my shoulders, kissing my forehead. "You are growing so fast."

"I love you mommy." He hugged her around the waist and could feel her stiffness soften.

She looked at me closely, staring into my eyes and I saw how her face looked tense, but her eyes looked very wet.

"Son… my little D'argo." He hand then brushed my cheek. "I…"

I wanted to say something; to get her to stay home, but I didn't know what to say.

Daddy cleared his throat.

"Yes?" mommy asked harshly.

"Just… take care," daddy said. "Like always. And later, don't forget…"

I looked over at daddy, who had that look he'd get sometimes. I saw that more often these past few ten-days and I didn't know why. Why was daddy so upset? And why did he and mommy yell so much? I slipped out of my chair, crossed the room to daddy and took his hand. "Don't worry mommy," I said. "I'll take care of daddy. We'll fix dinner - uhm - late meal, so it's ready when you get home." It was confusing about meal names. Daddy called them breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but mommy used first, second, and third to describe mealtimes. Earther talk (I know, it's called English) was a lot different from Peacekeeper, but I do my best to keep it all straight.

That made her smile. "Yes, right. Fine. I'm going now." Her hand rested on his shoulder. "You are always loved my son. Do not ever forget that."

"I know."

"Taking your Prowler?" daddy asked. "You could take the transport, or my module."

"Prowler's fine," she answered, then she safed the defense shield, opened the front portal, did a visual scan outside the portal, like she always did, and then she was gone, the door auto-closing behind her.

That was this morning and I was worried. Mommy wasn't home yet, and town wasn't that far away, and her Prowler was ever so fast.

"Don't jerk the line too much," daddy reminded me. "You'll scare the fish."

"I get tired of fish."

"Me too, but schrekel cuts are pretty expensive hereabouts. It's not like real beef, but pretty close," daddy grimaced. "Sort of close. Shrekel cuts aren't anything like real beef, but they are a close analogue." Daddy groaned. "Like the fish you're trying to catch isn't a fish; not with four gill slits and eight pectoral fins. Close enough though, but oh boy Steven Spielberg would be shocked to see one - or maybe delighted."

I thought that over. Whoever Spielberg was, but daddy always mentioned him, along with Babe Ruth, Neil Armstrong, Wonder Woman, and Captain Kirk. Beef, he knew was a kind of meat from an animal called a cow on Earth. "Okay. Are we poor?" I watched his eyes fall.

"We're not poor, but no sense to waste credits. The fish are right here and they are free. Schrekel aren't even raised here. They come all the way from the Malon system. That's half a monen away at hetch eight, son. So it costs a lot."

I squinted up at the sun. "Getting late, you know. If I don't catch anything we could have pasgetti."

"Spaghetti. It's not really spaghetti, but kinda - sorta like it."

The spaghetti plant was a vegetable with pods that when roasted broke apart into long fibrous strands. Similar to a zucchini squash, except the strands were bright green and chewier. Daddy had tried to explain it to me. "And we could have it with Grandma's mater sauce. And some of those crunchy rolls."

"Tomato sauce. We could."

Grandma's recipe for tomato sauce was something that daddy cooked up. He made it from what looked and tasted like similar ingredients, or so he said. Whenever daddy made he'd always say, "what I wouldn't give, for a case of good old Hunt's tomato paste."

Daddy squeezed my shoulders. "You rather have spaghetti?"

I looked up at my father and winked. "Unless I catch a fish. Then we'd eat it. Unless I don't."

Daddy laughed again. "Well played little D; well played. Reel in your line."


	2. Chapter 2

Ripples - Chapter 2

It didn't take much to get dinner started, but all the while I kept an eye on the wall-mounted timepiece. Little D noticed my attention to the clock, or he had the same feeling.

"Dad?"

Uh, oh, when he called me dad, it was serious. "Yes son," I replied.

"Mommy's really late getting home."

I stirred the mater sauce. It wasn't mom's spaghetti sauce, but it was the closest I could get, considering the nearest actual tomato was likely tens of thousands of parsecs away. "I know. Have you washed your hands?"

He held up his hands. "Even used cleanser."

"That's my boy," I praised. "When I was your age my momma practically had to hog-tie me, and harness up the wild horses to drag me to close proximity to soap and water." I bent down so I could face him eye-to-eye. "Now how in the world did you mom and me merit such a fine upstanding youngster as yourself? Trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient…"

"Cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent." He finished then laughed. "Boy Scout Law. You taught me that when I was three cycles old."  
I nodded, swallowing hard. "I been thinking that maybe we could round up some of the kids from town and start our own Scout Troop. Maybe just skip Cub Scouts and start with Scout? Hm? What you think of that?" I tousled his hair. "You could be the first Tenderfoot on our world. Camping, canoeing, fire building…"

He shrugged. "Our world. Not the same as Earth; you keep saying that."

I sighed and sat down next to him. "Brakel is a very fine world to live on."

"But it's not Earth, daddy. You've said it yourself."

Didn't I know it. Ninety percent of 1-G, but the climate is more temperate because of a denser atmosphere, with more nitrogen, and plenty of volcanoes… I shut off my internal monologue. "I know."

D'argo peered up from under his bangs (time for another haircut). "But we have oceans, like Earth, you told me, and deserts and mountains."

I nodded. "Indeed we do." Our home was on built on a river, which fed a large tributary of the nearest sea. The nearest town, which passed for a city in this empty part of the planet, was only 100 metras away; about 115 kilometers where ocean met the river delta. The oceans were smaller, but more numerous, mostly seas with broad shallow bays. From space it was obvious that Brakel had a massive, and late, asteroid bombardment in its history. "Yep."

D'argo smiled. "And the people are mostly Sebaceans mommy says, and they're a lot like humans. Like Urpers."

"Earthers," I corrected him. "Earthmen and Sebaceans are a lot alike." I looked at my son closely. "What's bothering you? Has somebody said something to you about us? About me and you mom? How we're, uhm, different. Not the same."

"No. Not that." He sighed. "But I am worried. You and mommy…"

"Oh." Ah, maybe he'll tell me now.

"You're arguing – fighting."

"We tried… well I told you that grownups…"

"But this is _too_ long daddy. _Other_ times," he looked away, "they're short. Right? I mean you argue about who's gonna take out the refuse, but that's short, you know? A few microts." He shrugged. "I'm sorry you're not getting along. When I went to that nameday party in town?"

I sighed. "I remember."

"Well Sutbreg and Tuma got into a fight over whose turn it was to shoot the archer set. Tuma's daddy stopped it - made them apologize - make peace." Then he looked at me, his eyes filled with tears. "But daddy, who's gonna make peace between you and mommy?"

"It's hard sometimes. Me and your mom, we grew up differently, so of course we, uhm, we, well we have discussions, okay?" She was born to be a soldier, and me? Hell, by the time she was learning to flying spacecraft I was barely in peewee football.

He stood up and looked down on me. "I'll have to do it."

I was amazed. "You?"

He took my shoulders in his tiny hands. "Daddy, mommy told me that you stopped the war between the Scarrons and the Peacekeepers."

I gulped. "I did." There was a gap in my memories, but it was true.

"A human, but you stopped the war."

"Well," I felt a weight come off my shoulders. "It wasn't pretty." Whole fleets had been destroyed, as well as the Eidolon temple on their world. The thought of Jool went through my mind for a second. Poor Jool.

And I didn't have to close my eyes to see the monster wormhole sucking ships down - burning, melting, pulsing… I didn't remember any of the Wormhole Knowledge but the images of what it did stayed with me. "But war never is," God knows how many died that day; people that I killed, "pretty; no glory either." I toyed with spoon stuck in the mater sauce pot. "And don't let anyone tell you different."

He smiled. "Make peace dad. How long ago was it?"

I thought about it. "God, I don't know. Hard to say. We went through some time jumps after our time on Hyneria."

"Mommy said it was 100 monens ago. Absolute time; she checked for me."

I inspected the boy who was peering up at me. "Wow." I'd no idea, but our time on Brakel had smoothed a lot of the rough edges off my memories – thankfully.

"The Eidolons helped, right?"

I could only nod, as I swallowed hard. "They did."

"And they set things right?" Now his eyes seemed very confident and not so sad.

"Son, a lot of things had to happen to keep the peace."

"And daddy, you know as well as me that peace isn't absolute. Uhm, get it? You have to _work_ at it."

All I could do was to hug this little man, who was far too wise for his five-cycle biological age.

His arms squeezed me hard. "Now," he said, "maybe we'd better get dinner ready so when mommy gets here, we can eat."

How could I tell him that I wasn't sure that his mom would be coming back? I had to break our hug, kissed him on the head and get off the floor, wiping my eyes so he didn't see me. "Sure, sure. Let's get busy little D'argo."

Soon enough the mater sauce was hot, the spaghetti plant had been cracked open, and the table was laid. D'argo carried to the table the crusty bread rolls he liked so much, after they had been flash-baked.

It was time to sit and eat, but Aeryn still wasn't home.

D'argo looked at the clock, and cleared his throat. "Is she coming?"

"Sure, sure. Come on now, let's get started. She'll be home soon. Sit and eat." But Aeryn had been very moody and snappish; worse than usual. I mean, she wasn't ever easy to get along with. I think she had been happiest when she took that consulting security contract with the planetary import combine. But she wouldn't tell me why she had to go into town. I looked at D'argo who had a strange look. "Come on now, boy, dig in."

D'argo reluctantly came to the table, picked up a utensil and began to eat.

I was biting into a forkful myself when I heard the whine of Prowler engines approaching. He and I dropped our forks and ran outside.

A Prowler approached low on the horizon, came blasting over the far ridge, turned to come up river, and then made a steep climb, rolling as it went up.  
D'argo and I were speechless and open-mouthed as we watched the speeding craft high above us, doing aerobatics which would tear the wings off anything other than a Peacekeeper bird.

"That's mommy!" D'argo yelled. "No one else can fly like her!"

After 250 microts or so, we watch as it went back into level flight, descended in a slow glide, and then on repulsors braked over the open field next to our hanger.

The Prowler settled slowly, kicking up some dust, landing ever so gently. The engines shut down and the canopy opened. Aeryn climbed out, dropped to the ground, and then fell to her knees. I raced over there, D'argo close behind and I dropped to all fours by her.

She was coughing, choking, trying to get air.

"Aeryn? Honey? What's wrong?" I was practically shouting. "Tell me!" Now I was shouting.

She lifted her face to me, straining. "John…"

I put my arm over her. "My God, Aeryn, what's wrong?"

I heard D'argo whine in fear.

She bent forward and puked up the biggest gob of goo I have ever seen. Then she wiped her mouth.

"I'm fine," she said. Sitting back on her heels she said, "Sorry I'm late. Is late meal ready?"


	3. Chapter 3

Ripples - Chapter 3

John followed me into the house, while I carried D'argo despite feeling terrible. That last box-canyon turn had not agreed with me. When I put our son down he grabbed my legs.

"So glad you are home mommy," he said in his squeaky voice.

"Were you worried?" I asked.

"Uhm, yeah," John answered. "We both were getting somewhat concerned."

The aroma of what was set for dinner assailed my nostrils. "Excuse me. I ought to go use the refresher." I got to the toilet just microts before I had to heave once more.

I was washing my face when John asked through the door, "Hon? You okay?"

"Yes." I dried my face and hands, and opened the door to see his downcast face. "What?"

He gave me a wary look. "Nothing."

I pushed past him and sat at the table, trying not to look at or smell the food that sat there. D'argo picked up his eating utensil and started to eat, watching me slyly.

John sat down and toyed with his drink. "So, how was town?"

I picked up a roll and tore it into pieces, then stared at the bits like I had no idea what I was doing. "Fine."

"Uh, huh," John replied.

I dropped the bread, suddenly having an irrational urge to cry. "John, I told you it was f-ine."

He held up his hands. "Don't shoot sheriff. I give up."

I looked over at our son who had a very serious look about him. D'argo smiled at me in the sweetest way, and that's when I broke into tears.

Blubbering and bawling I dropped my head into my hands, and John was there again; right by my side.

"Aeryn," he said softly, "talk to me. Are you sick?"

I blew out a shaky breath, wiped my face on my sleeve and looked at my husband. "No, I'm not seriously ill, if that's what you're asking."

His head rocked back. "Whoa. Not seriously ill? Oh my God! What in good gravy is that supposed to mean?"

I pushed him aside and ran out of the house.

John caught up with me when I got to the end of the dock. I looked over my shoulder at him saying, "I'm not going swimming if that's what you think." I did sit down, with my legs crossed, right at the edge. I drew a shaky breath knowing that John would sit next to me and he did.

"Aeryn," he asked after settling himself. "Tell me what is going on. Please?"

I drew a deep breath. 'I have been pretty awful towards you the last few…"

"I know."

The usual evening breeze was blowing, taking warm air from the land downriver towards the sea. I brushed my long hair away from my face and John gently took my hand. I glanced back to the house and saw D'argo sitting on the porch watching us. "Is he alright?"

"Worried."

"Ah."

"Just ah Aeryn?"

I turned my head to face John. "And you are worried as well."

He kissed my fingers. "If anything would happen… uhm… to…" he gulped. "What would I, uhm, me and D'argo do without you?"

I breathed deeply and the fatigue lifted somewhat.

"Why did you go to town?"

"Something I had to attend to."

"Attend to." He sighed. "That it?"

This was what I had been dreading and it felt worse than facing an angry Scarron in the heat of battle. "Yes." My pulse was racing and I was certain John felt it as he held my hand.

"Well for God's sake tell me woman!" He choked as he said it then added. "If something's wrong then there must be a doctor, a diagnosian, a healer! Somebody who can help!"

I took a deep breath and told the tale in a few words. "I had not been feeling very well, that is, unsettled."

"I know."

"Jittery, nervous."

"Yep," he snapped then he started rubbing the dock planks with his other hand. "I… this is all new to you, and I appreciate it. Living on a planet; all of this. Being a mother, erh, and having to live with me. You'd rather be out there," his chin pointed to the evening stars which were just emerging in the twilight with a toss of his head.

My turn to sigh.

"But that's okay, if you have to go…" he tore a splinter off a board and threw it into the smooth river. Ripples grew around it. "But I won't have little D hurt. You hear? Hurt me all you want, but we'll – we'll have to have to work that out. And you can visit anytime… well, anytime you're in the area; the… quadrant, or whatever."

I shook my head.

"What?"

"You humans; you can be so dense. So easy to hurt."

He sighed. "Just tell me what the frell is going on."

I recalled something I told him a long time ago, so I repeated it. "I had this life. I liked it. It had rules, I followed the rules; that made everything right. And then you come along and you frell everything up. This strange human - arrogance, stubbornness..."

He laughed. "Oh my."

"Now, let me finish. You are like a plague John Crichton and you have ruined my life. And yet I just keep coming back."

He stared at me. "What are you saying?"

I turned slightly so I could take both his hands in mine. "John, you have frelled me once again, and more thoroughly than you realized so I decided to do something about it."

He looked like he was going to cry, but his lips pursed together. "Just say it." His head drooped. "I suppose I have it coming."

I gulped. "I had to find a Sebacean, a former Peacekeeper medic – because - I hoped he could help me."

His head came up. "A Peacekeeper medic?"

"Yes."

"To do just what?"

I looked down at the splinter floating on the water. The ripples made when John threw it in continued, getting larger and larger. I glanced at him and thought that his module was the splinter, a particle dropped into this part of the universe and he had caused so many things to happen.

I looked hard at John and no doubt he was trying to prepare himself for the worst. Hadn't I frelled up his life? If I'd stayed behind on the commerce planet after we'd escaped from Crais' custody? Well, Aeryn, you'd be dead and gone, executed by your own regimental mates as a deserter and a traitor. I felt his hands in mine; they lay lifeless and I gussed that he'd be dead as well.

I looked at the small figure behind us waiting at our house. I loved that child, and I loved his father – alien concepts which had contaminated me through and through right to my core. And speaking of core… I moved his hands until they were pressed against my belly. "John, I was moody and terrible and awful to you and I didn't know why. I suspected of course."

A slow light built on his face. "Oh my goodness!"

"Yes John. I had a conceptus inside me in stasis, but it felt different this time and it made me very grouchy. The medic told that foods grown on this planet interfere with normal Peacekeeper female processes. Reproductive processes."

He started to smile.

"So yes, John I am pregnant with a viable fetus, your fetus; one that you and I made."

"When you said I'd frelled up your life…" he sniffed. "I was afraid that you meant you were dumping me."

"I meant it in the strictest possible meaning of the word. Frelled as in frelled – but unlike other times this time we actually made a baby."

He pressed his lips to mine and we kissed. "Wow," he said into my ear when we broke the lip lock. "But why are you sick? It looked to me like you threw up everything you ate since last week."

My turn to sigh. "It seems that living down here on a planet makes this pregnancy more like what Sebeceans mothers experienced naturally. So not being on a command carrier…"

"Morning sickness."

I gulped for I felt acid reflux churning below. "There are others – like me – the medic said. His medical records predict that this pregnancy will not be geometric, therefore taking around 260 solar days in all."

"Ah," he mumbled into my neck. "So more like what a human mother might expect."

"Fatter and longer, yes," I moaned. "Not something to look forward to."

He quit kissing my neck and looked me in the eye. "You'll be fine. We'll be fine. Peace then."

"Yes John." I hugged him tightly. "Now help me to stand."

We got up and started walking back to the house.

"We'll need a name for it."

"Yes John, but it's not an it, it's a she."

He smiled. "Wow. Oh wow."

"I was thinking that perhaps Olivia Chiana Zhaan Susan Jool Noranti would work."

He grinned. "Have to think about it."

"Unless you want to name her after your mother Leslie."

His face went dark for a moment. "Uhm." He winced. "Maybe."

I touched his cheek with my palm. "That's alright John, we have time. The medic's scan indicated 259 more days, roughly."

He put his arm around my waist. "Time, is good; really good. Time heals all wounds. Einstein said that; not the real Einstein but the other one." Then he laughed. "We'll have to tell D'argo that we're good – I mean – at peace with each other."

Peace sounded so nice. "Yes, John. We are good." We were good I knew it, although seeing the spaghetti would make me throw up once more. Oh well. If John wanted more children, then so did I.

He kissed my hair. "Love you woman."

"I love you John." I squared my shoulders. "Now let's tell our son he will have a sister."

The End


End file.
